is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the village had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 5,650 in 2177 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of . The total area of the village was .

Geography

Kunohe is located in north-central Iwate Prefecture, within the

Kitakami Mountains is a mountain range in northeastern Honshu, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.Kitakami Mou ...

, in the river valley of the Niida River. Over 70 percent of the village area is covered by mountains and forests. Portions of the village are within the borders of the

Oritsume Basenkyō Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1962, the park spans the municipalities of Ninohe, Ichinohe and Kunohe. The central features of the park are and . See also * National Parks of Japan National may ...

Neighboring municipalities

Iwate Prefecture *

Ninohe is a city located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 26,344, and a population density of 63 persons per km2 in 11,803 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Ninohe is located in far north-center ...

* Karumai * Kuzumaki * Ichinohe * Kuji

Climate

Kunohe has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfa '') characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kunohe is 8.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1280 mm with September as the wettest month and February as the driest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kunohe population statistics
/ref> the population of Kunohe peaked around the year 1960 and has declined steadily over the past 60 years.

History

The area of present-day Kunohe was part of ancient Mutsu Province, dominated by the

Nambu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

from the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, and part of

Hachinohe Domain was a ''tozama'' Han (Japan), feudal domain of Edo period Japan It is located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honshū. The domain was centered at Hachinohe Castle, located in the center of what is now the city of Hachinohe, Aomori, Hachinohe in ...

under the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. During the early

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, the villages of Toda, Ibonai and Esashika were created within Kita-Kunohe District on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Kita-Kunohe District and Minami-Kunohe Districts merged to form Kunohe District on April 1, 1897. The three villages merged to form the modern village of Kunohe on April 1, 1955.

Economy

The economy of Kunohe is based on agriculture, the production of charcoal and animal husbandry, primarily poultry. The village is famous for its production of

amacha is a Japanese herbal tea made from fermented leaves of ''Hydrangea macrophylla'' var. ''thunbergii''. The name derives from the characters for and . Amacha means ''sweet tea''. This tea contains tannin and phyllodulcin, a sweetener 400–800 tim ...

Government

Kunohe has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

village council of 12 members. Ichinohe, and the city of

together contribute two seats to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the village is part of

Iwate 2nd district Iwate 2nd district is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the National Diet of Japan located in Iwate Prefecture. As of 2020, the district was home to 376,270 constituents. The area was for a long time the location of ...

of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Education

Kunohe has five public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the village government. There is one public high school operated by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education.

Geography

Neighboring municipalities

Climate

Demographics

History

Economy

Government

Education

Transportation

Railway

Highway

References

External links